The blizzard of 1996 was one of the fiercest winter storms ever to hit the Lehigh Valley, and its memory lives on.
Snow began falling early the morning of Jan. 7, 1996, and didn’t let up until a then-record 25.6 inches fell at Lehigh Valley International Airport.
Take a step back in time to relive this epic storm through Morning Call photos:
Remember Jan. 8, 1996? In a photo that appeared in The Morning Call’s Blizzard of ’96 special edition, Joanne York digs her car out on that day on Juniper Street in Quakertown. (Douglas Benedict/The Morning Call)
The 100 block of North Ellsworth Street in Allentown is buried in snow after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 14, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
A van is all but buried along North 10th Street, near Liberty Street, in Allentown, as snow clean-up continues following the blizzard of 1996. Photo taken Jan. 11, 1996. (Harry Fisher/The Morning Call)
It was fun for Brittany Dechine, 5, to watch her dad Steve Dechine working for several hours shoveling snow from atop a second floor roof on their home and a neighbor’s roof in the 1400 block of Butler Street in Easton, after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 14, 1996. (Ed Koskey Jr./The Morning Call)
Ed Molchany shovels as more snow swirls around him on the 300 block of Hamilton Street during the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 7, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
A shopper braves the blizzard of 1996 to shop for food midday Sunday, Jan. 7, at Kings supermarket at the Westgate Mall in Bethlehem. (Morning Call file photo)
Pat Ojea carries groceries through the snow up Tilghman Street off Seventh Street during the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 7, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Mike Malpedo, 16, Bethlehem, collects shopping carts during the blizzard of 1996, midday Sunday, Jan. 7, at the Kings supermarket parking lot at the Westgate Mall in Bethlehem. (The Morning Call file photo)
Residents of South Fifth Street in Easton take to clearing off the roadway themselves after city plows did not open the roadway after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 9, 1996. (Pete Shaheen/The Morning Call)
When Mickey Marquart got his car stuck trying to enter the Quaker Village Shopping Center from Branch Street, he borrowed a shovel from a merchant and, after some shoveling, passersby stopped to help push him out. Photo taken Jan. 9, 1996. (Doug Benedict/The Morning Call)
North Seventh Street to Center Square in Allentown became a footpath as people had to get around on foot after some 30 inches of snow fell from the blizzard of 1996. Photo taken Jan. 8, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Hugh O’Donell shovels snow off the roof of his house on Fullerton Avenue after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 8, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Zachary Wikane, 11, of Emmaus, wipes out while snow saucer-sliding down a huge pile of snow left by snowplows in the Rodale Press parking lot on North Sixth Street in Emmaus after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 9, 1996. (Betty E. Cauler/The Morning Call)
Evelyn Costelloe and her daughter Mary, 4, both of Emmaus, sled down a huge pile of snow left by snowplows in the Rodale Press parking lot on North Sixth Street in Emmaus after the blizzard of 1996. (Betty E. Cauler/The Morning Call)
An army of snow shovelers work Juniper Street in Quakertown trying to free their cars from snow after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 8, 1996. (Doug Benedict/The Morning Call)
Quakertown firefighters use boards to support portions of a roof still remaining after a row house porch collapsed in the 300 block of Juniper Street in Quakertown after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 13, 1996. (Doug Benedict/The Morning Call)
Snow covers trucks after the blizzard of 1996. (Chuck Zovko/The Morning Call)
The Atlas Roofing Corporation building on Pacific Drive in the Pan-Am Industrial Park in Richland Township, Bucks County, collapsed from the weight of the snow after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 8, 1996. (Doug Benedict/The Morning Call)
Neighbors Carmen Lisinicchia, left, and Tom Howey dig a path in the snow in front of their homes in the 200 block of West Berwick Street on Easton’s South Side after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 8, 1996. (Ed Koskey Jr./The Morning Call)
A walker navigates down Ferry Street, Easton, after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 9, 1996. (Pete Shaheen/The Morning Call)
A bicyclist struggles through the snow as he crosses the Hamilton Mall at Eighth Street in Allentown, Jan.8, 1996. (Dan DeLong/The Morning Call)
As the sun sets Jan. 8, 1996, Route 22 was empty of cars as the blizzard of 1996 prompted a state of emergency that allowed only emergency vehicles on the roads. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Dianne Duford stands in the front door of her Weisenberg Township home with ‘Christopher’, her pet chihuahua, Jan. 10, 1996. (Tom Volk/The Morning Call)
Cara Costelloe, 9, right front, rides her snow saucer down a huge pile of snow left by snowplows in the Rodale Press parking lot on North Sixth St. in Emmaus after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 9, 1996. (Betty E. Cauler/The Morning Call)
A motorist attempts to free himself at 5th and Northampton streets in Easton after the blizzard of 1996 on Jan. 9, 1996. (Pete Shaheen/The Morning Call)
Cyndi Rice, a die-hard Eagles fan, did not let a little snow stop her from going to Rookies sports bar to watch the Eagles-Dallas game as she came via snowmobile Jan. 7, 1996, during the blizzard of 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
South Fourth Street over South Mountain was more of a foot path than a road as Allentown dug out of some 30 inches of snow after the blizzard of 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Steven Hambleton, who recently moved to Allentown from Lancaster, cross-country skis north on Sixth Street past the Americus Hotel on Jan. 8, 1996. (Dan DeLong/The Morning Call)
Jim Woof of Bangor, a member of the Delaware Lehigh Amateur Radio Club, holds the door for nurse Cindy Possimato as she gets out of his 4-wheeled drive vehicle to work her shift at Easton Hospital during the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 7, 1996. (Ed Koskey Jr./The Morning Call)
The Orlando Magic basketball team bus sits outside the Hilton Hotel at Ninth and Hamilton streets in Allentown. The team was forced to stay in Allentown because Philadelphia International Airport was closed due to the weather during the blizzard of 1996. (Morning Call file photo)
A resident of Salisbury Township gets an early start shoveling after the blizzard of 1996. The view includes Lehigh Street and South Mountain. (Naomi Halperin/The Morning Call)
Jean Kosalko polkas with neighbor Jerry Rodriguez during a bar-b-que at Kosalko’s house in Hellertown. 15-20 neighbors had gotten together to shovel the alley behind their homes Jan. 9, 1996. (Dan DeLong/The Morning Call)
A roof collapsed at the Boots and Saddles Riding Club in Salisbury Township after the blizzard of 1996. (Chuck Zovko/The Morning Call)
Vehicles tread slowly along a plowed, but still slippery section of North Sixth Street in Allentown. The view is looking southbound from between Chew and Gordon streets Jan. 9, 1996. (Harry Fisher/The Morning Call)
Paul Reid cleans a ton of snow off his roof at the corner of North Glenwood and Tilghman streets in Allentown on Jan. 9, 1996. (Tom Volk/The Morning Call)
“GOOD JOB’ is written in a snow bank to compliment road crews on East 10th Street in Northampton after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 14, 1996 (Young Hong/The Morning Call)
A dog stands in the middle of an unplowed Elm Street, just North of Hamilton, in Bethlehem after the blizzard of 1996. (Chuck Zovko/The Morning Call)
A sign that asks motorists, “Don’t Park Here” was placed in the 1600 block of Elm Street in Allentown, as residents continued to dig out from the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 11, 1996. (Harry Fisher/The Morning Call)
It took Kare and Rob Scott of Nesquehoning more than 3 hours to get to Lehigh Valley Hospital at 17th and Chew streets in Allentown, where their son Gabriel was born during the blizzard of 1996. (Naomi Halperin/The Morning Call)
LaMarr Watson, 15, finds himself rolling down a hill of snow during a game of ‘king of the mountain’ with friends along Long and Raspberry streets in Bethlehem after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 9, 1996. (Dan DeLong/The Morning Call)
Three men help a motorist out in the snow by pushing it though a snowbank on Fullerton Avenue, Jan. 8, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Michael Malchon, 11, of Lansford, followed by his friend Patrick Kennedy, 10, of Summit Hill, walk down Broadway in Jim Thorpe after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 10, 1996. (Catherine Meredith)
Mike Pratt of Sheaf Lane in Center Valley works trying to clear his driveway and mailbox from three feet of snow as his dog Moose tries to catch the snow as it is blown through the air after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 8, 1996. (John C. Anderson/The Morning Call)
Dave Rush (facing camera) and Terry Bast shovel snow from the roof of a home on Juniper Street in Quakertown, just a few doors down from where a porch collapsed in front of several row homes following the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 13, 1996. (Doug Benedict/The Morning Call)
Phillipsburg patrolman Robert Schmeltzly looks over a garage collapse on South Main Street after the blizzard of 1996, Jan. 9, 1996. (Pete Shaheen/The Morning Call)
Dustin Weisel of Quakertown takes a steep slide down a snow mountain created by crews removing snow from the streets and dumping it in the parking lot of the Quakertown Municipal Pool during the blizzard of 1996. (Doug Benedict/The Morning Call)
Suzanne Weaver, 2nd from left, with daughters Sarah Martinez, 8, left; Jessica Martinez, 5, center; and David Woodley, 6, right, climb over a snow bank to get on the school bus to Clearview Elementary School in Bethlehem after a week off due to blizzard of 1996. (Young Hong/The Morning Call)
At dusk, people were out and about on Seventh Street between Linden and Turner streets, in Allentown, Jan. 8, 1996. (Dan DeLong/The Morning Call)